Aakanksha - CC Requested

[Austin Greene]

Went into an impromptu shoot again yesterday and opted to leave the second flash and other modifiers at home once again. I'm really enjoying working with just the single large umbrella and seeing just what I can get out of it.

The model had a fair amount of blotching on her skin, so I've cleaned some of it up. Before I move onto editing the other images I wanted to see what you all thought. I could have done without the dress on her shoulders for this one, but didn't consider that until today.

In any case, hope you enjoy it!

1.

Aakanksha by TogaLive, on Flickr

Best,
Austin

 

[tirediron]

Hmmm... I think with her darker complexion and dark hair, that second light would really have helped. For me, the shadows image left are just a bit too deep.

 

[Derrel]

This photo does not give me a positive vibe...her chin seems too low in the frame, she's looking out of the frame, and there's so much light on the broad side of the face and both of her eyes are too far to the left, and there is so,so little light on the opposite side...this just does not work very well compositionally. It's mainly a matter of chin placement, eye placement, and the strong broad lighting all being in conflict with one another.

Her eyes are looking camera-left, which is fine....BUT, with the brightest spot being her cheekbone, and then the cheek, that eye direction, and the eyes being placed "off to the left" just does not create harmony, it creates imbalance. She needs more ,"room to look into". It's a psychological thing that's basically impossible to overcome.

If you want to crop off some of the right hand side, the eye direction looks better.

 

[Austin Greene]

Thank you both for the solid critique! I definitely think I'll at least start packing the second light, just in case something comes up where it would be helpful like it would have been here. As for the composition, I tried to pull a bit more of the viewers eye into the darker right eye by having the front just slightly OOF, but I'd agree that perhaps the shadows are a tad strong. It is interesting that she's seen as looking off-center from the camera, to my eyes she's looking right at me. Weird. In any case, I completely agree, she needs more room to breathe!

 

[Tony S]

At the minimum pack a reflector with your kit.

 

[Austin Greene]

At the minimum pack a reflector with your kit.

I'd be better off just packing the second flash. If I'm bringing a reflector I'd need someone/something to hold it, or a tripod to hold the camera as I hold the reflector. If I'm packing a tripod, I might as well just pack a second flash stand.

I've been taking on flash as an exercise of stretching what I could do with it. It's gone without issue so far, I just think I was a little off my game here and didn't pick up on the issues as I should have. I think they all could have been fixed if I'd placed her with a wall a foot to her right, so the falloff would bounce back and provide a little fill. I wanted really dark shadows on the one side of her face, but I just took it a bit too far. I certainly think it's doable without a reflector.